The Viennese waltz and fine dining, fine shopping too!

Today was a big day in Vienna city as we did a city tour and we went out afterwards for a night we will never forget.

We started off with a tour of hoffburg palace which is where the royals of Vienna resided. As we were a special tour group (that's code for paid more $$ so get first preference) we got the place to ourselves for around half an hour before any other tourists were allowed in. This made a huge difference as the crowds can really spoil an experience for you.

We saw so many lovely things in this palace, but my favorite was the gardens. Beautifully manicured and cared for, something I aspire to do but know I don't have the patience or organization skills to pull that off!

We then saw the sights of the city. Vienna is so much more relaxed than the other cities we have visited and this was a nice change for us, not to have to diligently watch who was near us trying to steal our bags or get into our pockets. We really began to enjoy being there rather than always having one eye on someone else.

Later that evening we were treated to a Viennese orchestral recital where we had a small orchestra playing gorgeous music from Strauss and Mozart and there were opera singers and ballet dancers also. This was great and something mum thoroughly enjoyed. I also enjoyed it as I love classical music but I had a tall person in front of me so seeing much became difficult so I used my ears instead. It was beautiful to listen to also.

We were treated to fine dining for this also, and dined on a 3 course meal of fancy dishes like beef terrine, salmon on pea risotto and strawberry tart. Yummo!

Tomorrow we head to Salzburg and Munich. I feel a viewing of a movie I swore I would never see in my life time coming up! Tune in for more on this tomorrow!

Vienna, an eclectic place

We entered Vienna this afternoon and once we got settled into our room, we were off to a special dinner just on the out skirts of town.

We drove to a place called where we were delighted to see millions of antiques the family had collected over the years in each of the rooms, beautifully decorated. The place where this restaurant was is a house, and it is huge so thee are a lot of rooms to hoard all these antiques and knick nacks in.

Many famous people have dined in this place, such as Tom cruise, placido Domingo, Audrey Hepburn and Pavarotti! Just to name a few.

The food was in huge portions - we have grown used to this during our time here - so of course we could not finish it all, but it was delicious anyway.

We are doing a city tour of Vienna tomorrow with a local guide so we are looking forward to seeing more of this beautiful city.

Venice, the floating city!

We arrived in Venice today after a little bit of a long drive, something like 6hrs today. Lots of driving on a bus tour but it's the only way to get to places other than bullet train or plane.

Venice is little islands surrounded by small stretches of water and you get around by boats. The first thing we did was get a boat from the mainland to the main island of Venice. Then we were treated to a gondola ride first up.

Our gondola rower was not as authentic as some, as he chatted on his mobile phone, smoked constantly and looked like he belonged in the back streets of skinhead lane. He did attempt to sing to us tho, but we wished he hadn't at times lol.

It was a nice gondola ride tho, as it was quiet and serene and gave us an insight into how people live in venice and not just the touristy parts. We went under lots of little bridges but perhaps one of the more memorable ones was the bridge of sighs. This bridge was the last light of day prisoners saw when they were being escorted into the prison on the other side of the bridge and it is said that whenever a prisoner was taken there, they would have one last look out the windows to the free world and sigh as it was possibly the last they would see of it in their life time. Very sad but a beautiful bridge.

Afterwards we wee treated to a drink in St. marks square, which is the central square of Venice where all the people come and congregate. I had a peach Bellini and mum had a hot chocolate you could stand your spoon up in! If we had have paid for these ourselves, we would have been up for $25 or more, as they also charge for you to sit down on their seats! We watched the world go by for about an hour. We had a sneaky gelati in there too!

We walked to our boat which was taking us to our own island where our hotel is, called lido island. On the way to the boat however we saw the bridge of sighs again. It's a haunting place but nice to see from the outside rather than what those prisoners saw instead.

Once we got to the island of lido, we settled into our hotel which is covered on the outside with mosaic tiles and it is very artsy fartsy and pretty inside.. We were treated to dinner at the hotel, as we have an early start in the morning for a trip to murano island where they make the famous murano glass and we also go to some other smaller islands to mooch around. A good day to do not much for mum and I as it will be Anzac day here.


Thought I would tack on the next day we had in Venice onto this post. We went to murano island and watched a glass blowing demonstration. This was great as we got to see how each sculpture was made and how intricate and delicate work it is, but how proud and talented the people who do it are about their work. It brought a tear to my eye to watch a man work on his craft with such pride.

We went and had lunch on an island called burano. This lunch was huge and jam packed full of seafood. As we had such a big lunch, mum and I decided we didn't need dinner so we hit the hay early and got some rest for the next day. We are off to Vienna tomorrow!

Historical Rome, and a bit of Rome-ance too

Today was a big day for us, we were to see so many things and try to take so much in that we really needed a video camera with us as the memories of all that happened will unfortunately one day fail. Let's start with the boring history stuff first tho.

So, we met our local guide Susannah and she took us to the Sistine chapel first thing within the Vatican city. She gave us a big lead up though, as she wanted us to see it for more than what we may have if we were your everyday tourists. After her explanation of all it entailed, we definitely saw it in a different light.

Inside the Sistine chapel, it smells kind of damp from all the people that have walked that floor, and also there is no electric light in there so only the sunlight has a chance to air the room out.

The Vatican city had some gorgeous gardens and we strolled through them first and looked at some more modern sculptures and art pieces. The big gold globe was one of them, and this was huge - like 10 feet tall, but our guide was naughty and went into the roped off barrier and turned the globe with one hand and it began spinning like it weighed nothing. It was amazing to see and we would have never seen that without her.

The Sistine chapel itself is a small room with the ceiling and the walls painted by Michelangelo. The popes bedroom backs onto this chapel so it was kinda surreal being there and seeing it all; sometimes it doesn't feel like we are really there and we need to slap ourselves to realize "yes we are here".

The work on the ceiling is amazing and the detail and the time it would have taken is something you truly appreciate once you have seen it. Also the pain the artist must have felt when doing it, as we both had sore necks after just 20mins of looking up at it! The ceiling is the story of the creation of Adam and Eve, really the creation of life by God, and the back wall is the last judgement by Jesus, which is yet to come. Regardless of whether you are overly religious or not, this place gives you an appreciation for the work and why it was created in the first place.

We then went to St. peters basilica which is where the pope gives his mass blessing every Sunday lunchtime and all of his public addresses from here also. The basilica has the remains of the last Pope there and the one before him also. The interior was stunning and there were lots of mosaics and sculptures and it was very gaudy and embellished inside, but nice to see also.

We then headed off to the colosseum where the gladiator battles took place and a lot of history was behind those walls. The colosseum is a huge place, with many layers to it; it isn't just one layer of bricks in a round shape, it's 3 layers of bricks thick, except most of it has fallen away after standing for almost 2000 years, so we forgive it!

It was great to stand inside and see what the general public and also great emperors like Caesar saw. We saw the gallows where slaves were held until they went to battle and we also saw where they kept the animals like lions and elephants, etc to be slayed or to slay the gladiator.

After this we went to the trevi fountain, where it's tradition to throw 3 coins into the fountain; 1 for a wish to be granted, 1 for luck, and the last one for your return to Rome. I hope they work for both of us, even though we were stingy and used our left over English pence and copper coins! The fountain itself was lovely, but it was so busy that the atmosphere could not be enjoyed, but we made the most of it in the 10mins we were there. When we arrived tho, we saw another tour bus which had broken down and was being pushed by its tourist group... I guess they forgot to throw their coins in and as a dose of bad luck, they are probably still pushing the bus toward the alps by now!

If you thought that was a lot to pack into one day, there's more!

We went to dinner to a place called mangrovia and this place has been a regular on our tour guides list for 21 years so we knew we were in for a treat. When we arrived, we were greeted by some very handsome young Italian waiters. They were very attentive and very good at their job, which entailed more than we bargained for.

First course was a caprese salad with cheese, tomato and cured meats, then we had 2 - yes 2 courses of pasta, ravioli and rigatoni. When the 2nd pasta dish was served, I was not given a plate and wondered why at first. Four other girls were not given plates either and when the waiter banged a big metal spoon on the table really loudly and announced there were special dishes to be served I knew something was up. Each girl that did not get a dish at first were given special dishes, but to eat them, we first had to be kissed by the waiter.

It was lots of fun and they gave roses out to you and then kissed you on your neck and from your hand to your neck until they felt you were satisfied! It was lots of fun and the women were all screaming. I think they were jealous as only some ladies received this treatment - I was only glad I was one of them - sorry Steve!!

Tomorrow we head to Venice, where there's a lot of romance for lovers being serenaded on a gondola ride. Maybe we should take one of the waiters with us!

When in Rome......

Today we headed off to Rome where we were told in advance it would be a big couple of days. We decided that if this was the case we were glad we got to have a sleep in and not do positano that morning after all.

We headed off around 10:30am and it took around 4hrs to get there and get settled. The hotel we are staying in is amazing! Very modern and spacious we didn't quite know what hit us at first. Compared to the hotels we had stayed in in Assisi and sorrento this was a nice change; to have some space was very much welcomed.

We settled into our rooms and mum and I decided to go for a stroll in the roman sunshine. It was a gorgeous 22 degrees and we happened to stumble onto a little hidden treasure of our own, a market! We found some lovely things and I bought some jewelry and some fresh strawberries for us to nibble on. They were glorious!

For dinner tonight we were treated to a typical roman dinner of cured meats with tomato and rocket, pasta, pizza and tiramisu. Me not being the greatest coffee fan had gelati instead. As I mentioned above... When in Rome... I figure I'm only in Italy once so I should try gelati from lots of places to make sure I have sampled it from all regions, it's only fair!

On the way to dinner we were treated, by pure accident, to a re enactment of the gladiatorial fights of the ancient Romans at circus Maximus. We were driving past and saw it all from the bus so Brent our tour director stopped the bus and we had 10mins to see some fighting and get some happy snaps with some people dressed in the gladiators attire. It was fabulous!

We had dinner in a little Italian place which had a full frontal view of the colosseum. It was great food and a great view. We thought it couldn't get any better, until we were personally serenaded by Italian singers who sung opera and historical Italian songs, and they were fantastic. Many musicians make their living by singing in restaurants and selling their CDs to those wanting it. We have seen such performers in Spain and Italy so we have been lucky so far.

After dinner, we did a walking tour of the city centre and saw some ancient ruins and some very elaborate buildings. Remembering their names is only half the fun so I will just post pics without boring descriptions!

The night was warm so the stroll and the guided tour was a great finale to the evening. Tomorrow we see the Sistine chapel and St. peters basilica and also the colosseum. We can't wait!

The isle of Capri. Stunning!

Today mum and I visited the isle of Capri. This is the place where famous people like Sophia Loren and great Italian actors had their holiday homes and made movies on this island also.

We had to get to the island by boat - funny that, an island surrounded by water lol. Anyway, the boat was fairly big but the sea was very choppy and many people were sick on the journey to the island. There are 2 things I don't cope we'll with... One being on rough water, and two I cannot stand people being sick near me, it makes me want to vomit in turn and it's a vicious cycle. I managed to keep my stomach however and was so glad to see the land when we arrived.

The first thing we did was ride on a funiculare which is like a see through elevator which goes up a hill which is very steep. We made of up there and once we did it was a little like Monaco but on a smaller scale. There were designer shops galore and so many beautiful views and boutiques that it was another rich persons paradise!

The tour group were travelling on the road we nick named oh my god avenue as the cliff drops off it were so steep mum and I decided to stay where we were and not tempt fate.

We spent oil afternoon on our own away from the group and the crowds and it was fantastic. We had a pizza lunch under lemon trees with a view of Naples and the Mediterranean ocean. It was amazing and surreal!

We drove back in the afternoon, the boat journey back to sorrento was much smoother than on the way so no one was ill and neither was I.

We had a dinner in the hotel that night and we were served by a hotel waiter who was a spitting image of Robert deniro, which he was so happy to hear and everyone wanted photos with him. Lots of laughs at dinner and all in all a great day.

We have decided to sleep in tomorrow and not travel on horrid scary roads to positano so we will sleep in and join the group for the trip to Rome.

Oh yeah, one of these photos is an Italian momma yelling at her son from the window, we loved it so much we needed a picture!